Today, October 17, is International ShakeOut Day, an annual event promoting earthquake resiliency and preparedness as millions of people around the world participate in what is known as the Great ShakeOut. At precisely 10:17 a.m. on 10/17, Great ShakeOut participants will practice a critical earthquake safety measure as they promptly drop, cover and hold. As of Oct. 16, nearly 66 million people around the world were registered for the Great ShakeOut, including 21.4 million U.S. registrants. While much is known about earthquakes in terms of their geographical tendencies, threats and effects, seismic events can be unpredictable in their size and scale and can happen at any time, anywhere. According to data from FEMA, earthquake losses in the United States total about $4.4 billion annually, with California alone accounting for $3.3 billion of the estimated damage costs. To better understand earthquake risk, discover a few fast facts about earthquakes and their threats in the slideshow above, provided by FEMA.

For businesses, crisis management, business continuity plans are essential

ShakeOut Day is a good time for businesses to review their established business continuity plans — or more urgently, create one if it does not already exist. Because the outcomes of an earthquake are relatively predictable, Sean Murphy, managing director of crisis management and business continuity practice at BDO, says a little bit of planning can go a long way in the event of a seismic event. "We can codify wisdom in procedures and playbooks. We can use resiliency engineering to mitigate certain risks, such as building vulnerabilities, by leveraging earthquake resistant techniques," Murphy says. "If we understand cause and effect, we can develop good education and training programs."

What to do when disaster strikes

Albeit foreseeable, an earthquake's impact can catch companies off-guard. "It's easy to forget about the people and infrastructure when preparing for regional-type threats such as an earthquake," Murphy notes. "These events affect communities, which means your best asset—your people—may not be available to you when crisis strikes." "There are also cognitive stressors at play that may compromise good thinking. Infrastructure basics, such as water, energy, emergency services, etc., may not be available either," he continues. "How can you put out a fire without water? You can't." Business continuity planning is important as it defines the risks and possible impacts, as well as criticality and priority prior to a crisis. But, Murphy adds, these plans are just a good starting line. To successfully minimize damages and loss in the event disaster strikes, businesses must act and adapt based on the context of the situation. "The traditional 4Ps of business continuity — planning, plans, planners, practice — only take us so far," Murphy says. "We need to move beyond the notion of business continuity to that of agility — the ability to cope with and exploit change," "The future of crisis management will use agility concepts and techniques so that organizations are empowered to manage and respond to a spectrum of both known and unknown threats in real-time." See also: 

• Getting ready for California's next big earthquake
• Why earthquake insurance can put you on shaky ground
• 5 ways to protect your assets from earthquake losses